H20: Off to College
by SBeth09
Summary: Takes place after season 3 obviously I haven't seen it, so what happens in that season is all guess work . better summary inside :
1. Prologue

Prologue

Once upon a time, there were three teenage girls with magical powers, each one holding a different light. For four years they were together; making and sharing memories that would last them life times. But just as everything has a beginning, everything has an end. The three girls are growing up and going off to college.

One will be staying near the Gold Coast.

One will be on the other side of the country.

And one will be traveling the world.

The girls will have to learn to face the world on their own, to stay strong even without their friends around. They've been through thick and thin, but will these girls be able to hold onto an old friendship where the only thing that is keeping them together is magic?


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One

_Move-In Day_

"Riki Chadwick….Yupp, you're right here. Here's your room key and you'll be in Starfine 250."

Riki looked at the girl standing behind the table; she was rather tall and had jet black hair, her smile was so big you might think she was the Joker form Batman. Riki tried to smile with as much effort and took her key, "Thanks."

Walking down a hallway, dragging her duffle bag behind her, Riki tried to take slow even breaths. The hallways were crowded with parents and other freshman and bags and boxes; way too many things going on for Riki. She found the stairwell that would lead to the second floor of the dorm she was assigned and began to climb up. Going around a corner her bag got stuck and she tried to pull it free only to fall back on the steps.

"Whoa, need some help?"

Riki looked up and saw two beautiful pools of liquid blue; ironic no?

He was pretty tall, shaggy blond hair and a nice friendly smile. "I was a freshman last year, I remember what it's like." He picked up her duffle bag without another word and helped her to her feet.

"Thanks…"

He nodded, "What's your room?"

Riki shook her head, trying to clear the fog and looked at the piece of paper, "Umm…250."

He nodded and walked up the remaining few stairs and led her down the hallway. "Move-In day is always crazy. But after a few weeks you'll get the hang of things and it'll feel a lot more like home."

Riki tried to smile, "Yeah…I doubt that…how far is the beach from here?" (Asking as if she hadn't checked about a thousand times already).

He stopped at a door and shrugged, "About a 20 minute walk. Why? You surf or something?"

For the first time Riki truly did smile, "Yeah, something."

Putting the key in the door she turned and stepped into her new room for the first time; it was pretty small, but not too bad as dorm rooms go. There were two beds sitting against each wall, each paired with a desk and dresser beside one of the dressers was a door that led into a private bathroom which that was one reason why Riki had chosen this University; private bathrooms with bathtubs.

The nice guy came in and sat her duffle bag on the floor, "You need anything, let me know, I'll be around. Just look for a bright yellow shirt."

Riki smiled and tilted her head to side, "What's your name by the way?"

"Hunter."

"Well, thank you Hunter."

He nodded and threw her a sweet smile again before leaving the room, shutting the door behind him.

Riki sighed and looked around the room; it was bigger than the room she had at her Dad's trailer, but she didn't think it would ever feel like home. 20 minutes, a 20 minute walk to a place where she could be totally free…that seemed like light years away. She sat on the bed closets to the bathroom and took a small charm out of her pocket; it was a little mermaid charm that Cleo had found a few weeks ago, she had made all three of them necklaces. Holding it in her hand Riki remembered saying goodbye to Emma before she left almost a week ago, saying goodbye to Lewis three days earlier and staying with Cleo the whole night, trying to keep her together. She remembered saying goodbye to Cleo yesterday. It all seemed so far away…and yet all the memories of the past four years seemed so close.

There was a noise at the door and a girl with brown hair walked in, followed by what must be her mom and dad. "You must be Riki. We're roomies!"

Riki stood and tried to smile, "Yeah, I guess we are."

Cleo sat outside her dorm building and tried to stop thinking about Lewis and how he was studying in England or of Emma traveling in Europe or even to not think about how far away Riki was; she just didn't want to think at all.

Her roommate was okay, but she hardly spoke so Cleo was forced to wait until she could talk to Lewis online (because calling was way too expensive) to be able to tell someone how she felt. She had heard from Emma earlier that she was in Italy at the moment and that the Mediterranean Sea was so warm and full of fish that she had never seen that she thought she might just stay there instead of travel more. Cleo was so happy that her friend was having so much fun; but it made her sad too. Riki had called only a few minutes before and couldn't stop complaining about how perky her roommate and her parents were; "You'd think they were trying to hid something." She had said and it had made Cleo smile; they knew what it was like to hide something.

She got up and walked over to the boardwalk that sat not far from her dorm and sighed, "At least the water isn't far…"

"Excuse me?"

Cleo spun around and saw a young girl standing behind her on the walk, "Oh sorry, I was just…talking to myself…"

The girl smiled and nodded, "I understand, it's weird not having friends to talk to huh?"

Cleo nodded and leaned against the railing, "You got that right…"

"I'm Ashley, I'm a freshman."

"Cleo, and me too."

She nodded and stood beside Cleo and looked down at the water, "Have you ever wondered what's down there? Wondered about all of the creatures and places?"

Cleo laughed quietly, "Oh yeah…you're not from around here are you? You have an accent."

Ashley smiled and nodded, "My family just moved here from America a few months ago. We had lived in the middle of the country, so the ocean is still totally new to me."

Cleo smiled, "I've grew up on the Gold Coast and I'm still learning things about it."

"You grew up on the Gold Coast? I've been doing some research and I heard that really weird things had been going on around the Gold Coast area for a few years now…scientists think it has something to do with some island…?"

Cleo looked down at the water, "Maiko Island."

Ashley nodded vigorously, "Yeah, that's it! Did you ever hear anything about it? Did you live close to the island?"

Cleo studied her reflection in the water and wondered how much this girl knew. How much the world new. "Yeah…I lived right across from it…."

"Emma dear, we're getting ready to leave. Are you ready?"

Emmer looked up at her mother's voice, "Yes mum, I'm almost ready."

She was sitting in the bathtub of her hotel room in Italy as memories kept flooding her mind. She had spoken to Cleo around 8 that morning (it had been close to 4 Cleo's time) and it had seemed that she was doing okay, but Emma could tell that she was scared about being alone at college and apparently Riki wasn't doing much better either. Over the summer it had seemed like the day when they had to part ways would never come. It was still strange to Emma to remember that she was traveling for a year before going to school; that had never been a part of her plan. But when it was coming down to Riki and Cleo picking schools, Emma realized she didn't know what she wanted to do, so she took a year off. Then to her even greater surprise, her parents and brother decided to travel with her.

Emma pulled herself out of the tub and began to dry herself with a towel when Elliot came and banged on the door, "Emma! Come on, I want to go!"

Sighing, Emma tossed the towel aside and grabbed a hair dryer, "I'm hurrying Elliot."

Once her tail disappeared and she was dressed she opened the door to the hotel room and set her shower bag into her suitcase, "We get to go to Rome today, Em! Isn't that cool??"

Emma smiled and patted her brother's head, "Yeah, it's great Elliot."

Elliot ran out of the room, probably to find dad sitting in the car already when mum walked back in. "You alright dear? You seem a bit quiet."

Emma sighed and zipped her suitcase closed, "I'm fine mum, really…I just said goodbye to my best friends and boyfriend…I'll be fine."

Emma picked up her suitcase and walked around her mother and out into the sunlight; she heard her mum sigh as she left the room.

**Sorry about the no breaks between character switches....stupid computer wont keep them when I save it. Enjoy though! :)**


	3. Author's Note

Hey everyone, I wont be writing for the a little while. My best friend's little sister died of H1N1 last night (she was 12) and I am going through a very hard time. Please be patient and listen when I say: don't shrug off this whole H1N1 stuff….it's scary.

All my Love,

SBeth09


End file.
